I Didn't See a Single Rat

 Sorry this is super delayed, I’ve been struggling a lot with migraines since Boston but I figured that I would just post it and come back and add pictures later. Anyway, on with the regularly scheduled content:

                                                                                                                                                                                       Oftentimes in America workers only have 14 days annual leave, before I quit my job I had 25 every year. 

Because of this many Americans design their holidays to be absolutely action packed, dawn till dusk, so they don't miss anything during their precious time off. How many times have you spoken to an American or read a blog written by one who's visiting London for a week and they start asking about day trips to Paris, Liverpool, Edinburgh, or Bath. Most Brits I know would respond to that request with bafflement and an extended pause before commenting that they could probably get the train. 

It's not unusual to find travel blogs written by Americans suggesting schedules that start at about 6am and run till late in the evening.  As someone who's written a couple of those types of posts, usually with titles like "7 perfect days in [insert holiday destination]" there's not a lot of trial and error or testing involved. In my experience there's some research done to see what there is to do in the area, usually by reading other blogs and travel books, before writing a sum up of what *you* did on your trip before coming up with a title that sounds enticing and has adequate search engine optimization phrases. 

All that's to say, don't ask me what to do in New York, I squandered my time there and it was glorious. By the time I'd arrived in New York I was approaching the end of my 68 day trip and I was hoping to get a job interview which I would have needed to do before I left (I got rejected so all that interview prep was wasted). 

My parents had let an old friend of theirs know that I was visiting so I had wonderful local guides showing me around and making sure I was ok the whole time I was there. I felt Kind of bad because they kept asking me what my plans were, and my plans basically boiled down to "see where the day takes me".  

Susan very kindly invited me to her family's Sunday brunch so I had a lovely walk down to lower Manhattan where she lives. I wandered through Time Square and past a parade for Nepal day to arrive into chaos as their usual bagel place had closed that week which put brunch's lox and white fish at risk. Luckily the backup bagel place had sufficient bagels. Disaster averted, I was treated to a true New York breakfast. 

Susan and her family suggested quite a few things I could do while I was in town as my only plan had been to go to the costume institute at the Met and visit Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. Never fear! Susan took me to TKTCs, stopping off at New York Public Library, to get tickets for Peter Pan Goes Wrong because, as her daughter said, you can't come to New York and not see a Broadway show. I was a little shocked at the prices on Broadway, I'm used to the West End where you can usually get tickets for under £40, and that's not even going to the discount booths. Not so on Broadway. So factor that into your budget if you're hoping to go to a show. 

I do like New York, although I probably didn’t take as much advantage of the city as I could have done. I had submitted an application and was hoping to get an interview before I got on the cruise back to the UK. No such luck but that wasn’t confirmed till two days before I was due to leave. 

I generally like cities, I like the hustle and bustle and the feeling of anonymity in crowds. My hostel was in an amazing location only about two or three blocks south of Central Park in a part of Manhattan known as Hell’s Kitchen. It would have been a perfect hostel (complete with rooftop bar for socialising). If not for the fact that it was undergoing some renovations which meant that showers would occasionally lose all water pressure and temperature, which on reflection was probably a good thing because we had one shower between 9 women. Alternating scorching hot and freezing showers did help to keep mornings moving along quickly. 

Although for as much as I like cities I always seem to find the parks within cities and New York has some lovely little pocket parks that the powers at be in Manhattan seem to be actively trying to add to. Central Park is perhaps the best known of all the parks in New York, and definitely one of my highlights but I also really enjoyed walking the Highline. One of the obviously newer attempts to bring greenery to the urban jungle, it’s a converted bit of rail tracks from an old elevated train network that have been planted with trees and greenery. This makes it feel like you’re walking through the treetops surrounded by skyscrapers and views of the Hudson peaking out. 

You also can’t visit New York without visiting the museums. Susan took me to the Met. We went around the temporary Van Gogh and Karl Larggenfield exhibitions before going to the Temple of Dendur. I love the seemingly unique american habit of basically importing or building replicas of things in the old world. I did notice while in the US that museums and libraries tended to be far more ornate and well funded than equivalent ones in Europe. 

I did escape Manhattan one day to hop over to New Jersey to visit Lady Liberty and Ellis Island. Did you know that the Statue of Liberty is in New Jersey, cause I didn’t . It’s a bit of a faff to get to from Manhattan because you have to get a ferry then buy a ticket to the museum and statue, then get another ferry. Don’t believe Google and think you can walk from the city ferry terminal, Google lies. Up close the Statue of Liberty is not as impressive as the views you get sailing into and out of New York harbour. One of the reasons I chose to end my trip in New York was because I wanted to get some of that near mythical experience of sailing past the Statue of Liberty. 

On my last full day in New York I went to the Garment District before meeting up with Susan again to go to see Camlot at the Lincoln Center. The production had an amazing set and costume. I was particularly excited to see Philippa Soo, best known for playing Eliza in Hamilton, in the role of Guienver. It was a lovely way to end my trip and lovely to spend time with Susan and her family. 

New York really was the perfect way to end my trip, I loved the mix of the city and parks and how highly walkable it is. I've gotta admit sailing away from New York was just the most perfect way to end the trip.